Yurei – Night Vision (2012)

In a similar vein to Ved Buens Ende, DHG, etc., but on crack and with a knack for jazz, today we have Yurei’s latest release “Night Vision”. This band is another musical outlet for the enigmatic Bjeima (Virus), and as you can expect is very strange and unusual. If you like traditional things, you should probably stop reading since this release is far from ordinary and standard.

Opening with very random and at times absurd tracks like “Insomniac Bug Hunt”, “Reborn in Reveries”, and “3.00 a.m. Revolt”, it is not until “The Cognitive Crack” that we start getting some structure and something actually enjoyable. With very trippy proggy/jazzy sections stitched together, Yurei fails to convey a message, and while this might be the point it is just frustrating to follow random ramblings over the course of the songs with no aim.

The Ulver-esque “Sleepwalkers in Love” is probably our favorite track since it reminded us to Arcturus “La Masquerade Infernale” album with some more modern Ulver touches, too bad is too short. If the previous tracks were not random enough, “Dali By Night” just adds to the madness with some deeper clean vocals and some ‘heavy’ parts, before drifting into a Jazzy abyss of nothingness.

The album mellows out a bit near the end and the songs seem to make more sense like the emotional “Ditt Monument” and the odd “Machinery”. Closing with “Cranial Echoes”, this release is truly a trip down a very weird and winey road. While not totally bad, “Night Vision” really isolates the listener and sometimes it downright gets on your nerves. We are huge fans of Avant-garde stuff, but Yurei feels a bit too random and disconnected in our opinion.

Release: October 29th, 2012

Genre: Avant-garde / Progressive Rock

Country: Norway